Korean TV Festival Now Live

South Korean content exports rose by 6.3 percent last year, generating revenues of $10.8 billion. And while the bulk of that came from the country’s prolific gaming industry, international interest in Korean dramas and entertainment formats continues to surge. In association with the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA), World Screen is spotlighting this dynamic market in the inaugural Korean TV Festival.

Visit KoreanTVFestival.com to screen clips of the series highlighted below. Clicking on each show title will take you directly to the trailer.

Bamboo Network is a fast-growing production outfit in Korea with credits such as Love as You Taste and The Witch Store. In the Korean TV Festival, it is showcasing The Sweet Blood, a short-form series that has logged more than 5 million views online.

Powerhouse player CJ ENM is emphasizing its strengths in drama and entertainment with a highlight reel for Mouse and Youn Stay. Mouse is a 20-part thriller about the hunt for a serial killer. Youn Stay features a group of celebrities running a guest house.

Leading production outfit Company Sang Sang is offering buyers a new competition format, 2 BISTRO2, which sees celebrities open competing bistros.

FormatEast, a subsidiary company of SBS, was founded as a hub for format IP development and distribution. It is promoting two paper formats in the Korean TV Festival: Dish is Alive, a new take on cooking shows, and the music competition Who Are You.

Hong Pictures specializes in travel, human and nature documentaries, and one of its latest offerings is The Last Wildlife—Anan, Wangpeng & Me, about the quest to film an elusive snow leopard.

JTBC Studios bills itself as Korea’s first “all-in-one” studio. Its slate includes two crime dramas—Beyond Evil and Undercover—and a pair of female-led dramas, Misty and The Lady in Dignity.

Kang Contents has carved out a niche with movies and dramas starring popular K-pop idols, including K-School, which features WJSN’s Dawon, April Yena and GreatGuys’ Baek Gyeol and Ui Yeon.

KBS Media is the commercial arm of national pubcaster KBS. It is promoting a drama series and an entertainment show in the Korean TV Festival. Sell Your Haunted House focuses on the daughter of an exorcist who runs a real-estate company. Come Back Home is a celebrity-led home décor show.

A subsidiary of leading telco KT (Korea Telecom), kt alpha is touting several new scripted productions in the festival. There is the short-form production Green Life, the YA-targeted Revenge Note 2 and the TV movie Twenty Hacker.

Leading media group MBC (Munhwa Broadcasting Corp.) is showcasing a mix of scripted and non-scripted in the festival. On the drama front, it has On the Verge of Insanity, The Veil and Kill Me, Heal Me, while in reality, it is promoting Home Alone and Refund Sisters.

Min Production was established by filmmaker Chaimin Ahn to focus on documentaries and is highlighting the new 8K production Fisher Queen—Women vs. Nature, which was included in the Official Selection of 2021 Philadelphia Independent Film Festival.

SBS International, a division of Seoul Broadcasting System, is putting the spotlight on two new dramas: Penthouse, a female-led thriller; and Taxi Driver, about a group of vigilantes running a secret revenge service for the downtrodden.

Founded by former CJ ENM executive Jin Woo Hwang, Something Special is touting a new YA romance series, Best Mistake, as well as a factual-entertainment format called Book U Love.

Channel operator Tcast is looking to tap into the global interest in K-pop with its music competition format Topgoal Rhapsody.

Similarly, TV Chosun is highlighting Mister Trot, a music competition series for aspiring trot singers.

Yoon&Company, meanwhile, is focusing on drama, highlighting King of Hiphop, a six-part series about aspiring rappers.

Visit the Korean TV Festival here.